Brackets for supporting a shelf



Sept. 30, 1969' I E. I. CRAIN 3,469,311

BRACKETS FOR SUPPORTING SHELF I Filed Oct. 20, 1967 IN VEN TOR.

fan/Mo J Cm/ AT TORNEY.

United States Patent 3,469,811 BRACKETS FOR SUPPORTING A SHELF Edward 1. Grain, 10673 Turfwood Court, Cincinnati, Ohio 45241 Filed Oct. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 676,789 Int. Cl. A47b 55/00 U.S. Cl. 248-248 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The support for a shelf or the like herewith disclosed is formed from a rectangular sheet of metal either cast or bent to provide means for attaching it to a wall and means for engaging an edge of the shelf in a removably supporting same.

This invention relates to improvements in means or brackets for supporting a shelf, such as a shelf in a closet.

In the past it has been customary to secure to walls, particularly walls of a closet or pantry, wooden or other supporting members with the upper surface of said members in a plane horizontal to the floor and on which supporting members a length of material was disposed to act as a shelf.

An object of this invention is to provide means of considerably less expense than a wooden or other supporting members which can be attached with no greater difficulty than those heretofore used while accomplishing the same results.

Another object of this invention is the provision of means, in the form of metallic members, that can be driven into the wall and thereby provide the shelf support and wherein the said shelf supports may be judicially arranged lengthwise and transversely of the shelf.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention should be readily apparent by reference to the following specification considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described, without departing from or exceeding the spirit of the invention.

Summary of the invention A support for a shelf consisting of a single sheet of metal having penetrating means on one side adapted to penetrate a supporting structure and shelf supporting projections extending from the other of said sides.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, longitudinal, perspective view of a shelf supported by the supporting means of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view through the shelf of FIG. 1 and looking toward an end wall as seen, for example, from line 22 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, elevational view through a wall supporting a shelf support of FIG. 2 in operative position and as seen from line 3-3 on said FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the preferred form of the sheet metal hanger of the present invention and which preferred form is used in the illustrations in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a blank sheet of metal from which the supporting hanger of FIG. 4 is formed.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of a sectional view through a wall having secured thereto a hanger of the present invention, this hanger however being of a slight modification in construction and arrangement of elements from that shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is, similar to FIG. 4, a perspective view of a hanger of the present invention illustrating the modified structure of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an elevational view of a sheet of metal from which the modified form of FIG. 7 is produced.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

As was noted above, the shelf hanger of the present invention is for use in hanging shelves in spaces with walls at right angles to one another and with the shelves extending, primarily, between opposed walls. Such an area of a home or the like would be in. a clothes closet, kitchen pantry, or the like, and wherein the shelf has its ends substantially abutted against the inner surface of opposed walls and, most generally, its longitudinal edge against a back connecting wall.

In the past it has been customary to secure to the inner surfaces of said walls a supporting wooden or otherwise longitudinal member on the upper surfaces of which was disposed the shelf.

By the present invention, and as seen. in the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates the back wall of a clothes closet or kitchen pantry from one end of which extends a side wall 11 with a similar wall (not shown) extending from the end of the back wall at its other end. As further illustrated in FIG. 1, there is provided, extending from the end or side wall 11 a shelf 12, sup ported along its rear longitudinal end or edge 13 by shelf supports 14. There is, also, illustrated in FIG. 1 two of said shelf supports, but it is to be understood that on relatively short shelves only one support, such as 14, may be needed while on longer shelves two or more may be required to prevent accessive bowing of the shelf under whatever weight or load there may be thereon.

There is further illustrated in FIG. 1, for the end 15 of the shelf 12, two shelf supports 14 and which are identical with those above referred to for supporting the rear longitudinal edge 13 of the shelf. Again, it should be noted, that while there is illustrated two supports for the end of the shelf one may be all that is necessary or even more than the two illustrated.

As noted above in the brief description of the drawings the shelf support illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is the preferred form and this shelf support. is illustrated in perspective in FIG. 4 having been bent or fashioned from the blank in FIG. 5. It is to be understood, that the said shelf support may be cast in one piece instead of bent.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, use is made of a piece 16 of sheet steel having a body portion 17 of an appropriate gauge or thickness as illustrated at 18 in FIG. 4. The said sheet 16 is cut, preferably, to provide a tongue 19 of less width than the sheet body portion 17 to project from the upper edge 20 of said sheet. Said sheet or blank body portion 17 is provided upwardly from its lower edge 21, and at substantially the mid-point thereof, with a slit or cut 22 thereby providing the said blank body portion 17 upwardly for a relatively short distance with two halves, one on each side of the vertical slit or cut 22.

The blank 16 and its body portion 17 is now subjected to a bending action for the two upper corners of the blank as well as a bending action for the inner corners, adjacent and outwardly of the slit or cut 22, of the portions thereof on each side of the said cut or slit 22.

The upper corners of the blank are bent outwardly as at 23 and 24, in FIG. 4, said bending being effected on the dot and dash lines 25 and 26 respectively outwardly extending from the ends of the tongue 19 to points in the vertical edges of the blank body portion. The inner corners of the lower halves of the blank body portion are bent rearwardly on each side of the blank body portion slit or cut 22 to provide rearwardly extending wings 27 and 28 with said wings being respectively bent on lines indicated by dot and dash lines 29 and 30 on FIG. 5. Said bend lines 29 and 30 being outwardly and downwardly angularly disposed with respect to one another from the upper end of the cut or slit 22 to points on the bottom edge 21 of the blank.

From FIG. 4 it will be noted that the wings 23 and 24 outwardly project with respect to the blank body portion 17 of the blank 16 while the wings 27 and 28 rearwardly project from said blank body portion 17.

In the use of the supporting member of FIG. 4 and as particularly illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper edges 31 and 32, respectively of the wings 23 and 24, constitute an inclining shelf supporting surface for underlying, in so far as the end wall 11 in FIG. 3, is concerned, the end 15 of the shelf 12. Obviously, a small out of alignment or offset of the supports 14 would through their inclined supporting surfaces 31 and 32 align, between themselves, to support the end 15 of the shelf, even though the said supporting brackets were slightly out of alignment, particularly, if the supporting brackets at each end of the closet, pantry, or the like, were slightly vertically out of alignment.

In mounting the said shelf supports 14 the wings 27 and 28 are driven into the wall, see FIG. 3. As shown in elevation, in FIG. 3, the said wings 27 and 28 are provided automatically with a driving point 33 at the inner ends of the inclined edges 34 and 35 of the said wings 27 and 28.

In driving the said hangers or shelf supports into position it is only necessary to drive the same by striking the body portion of the hanger of FIG. 4 in the area 36, that is, just above the upper end of the slit or cut 22 and therefore, substantially, at the upper end of the wings 27 and 28. It has been found that a direct hit on the said hanger body portion at about the point 36 drives the same directly into the wall whether it be wood, board plaster, or, the popularly now used and so called, dry wall. It should also be noted that by scribing a line on the wall at which level the shelf is desired, an operation necessary whether the old form of a continuous wood support or in using the present shelf supports or hangers, the upper edge of the tongue 19 is aligned with the scribed line and upon striking the hanger the upper end of the said tongue will be slightly moved below the said line, but since each shelf support or hanger will correspondingly move the shelf is supported in a plane parallel with the floor.

In the modified form of the shelf support or hanger in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 a blank 37 similar to the blank 16, is employed except that in the modified construction of said blank body portion 38 is not provided with the tongue 19. In the blank body portion 38 in FIG. 8 a slit or cut 39 is formed downwardly of the upper edge 40 of the blank. This slit or cut 39, similar to the slit or cut 22 in the blank body portion 17 divides the said blank 38 into two halves at and downwardly of the upepr edge 40'. The blank body portion 38, as illustrated in FIG. 7, has formed in each half of the blank, supra, a wing 41 and 42 with said wings being respectively bent on bend lines indicated as dot and dash lines 43 and 44 in FIG. 8. Similarly the lower outer corners of the blank body portion 38 are bent to provide rearwardly projecting wings 45 and 46 which, again, are formed by bending the said blank body portion 38 on bend, dash and dot, lines 47 and 48.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 the wings 41 and 42 constitute the supporting surfaces or the supported edges of the shelf and with said supporting surfaces inclined as at 49 and 50 operating in the same manner as the inclined surfaces 31 and 32 of the wings 23 and 24 of the blank body portion 17.

The said lower wings 45 and 46 are, similar to the lower wings 27 and 28 of the blank body portion 17, diamonded shaped to provide inclined surfaces 51 and .52 terminating in the driving point 53 The modified support in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, similar to the preferred construction, is aligned with one another and the desired position of the shelf by aligning the upper edge of the top 40 of the blank body portion 38 with the scribed line in the same manner that the upper edge of the tongue 19 is used in aligning the shelf support of FIG. 4.

In operation the form of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 is as efficient as the preferred form but in driving this second form care must be exercised since the hammer blows to be completely effective must be on each side of the center of the blank and against the outer face of the said blank and over the driving or mounting wings 45 and 46.

It has been found that a very effective shelf may be formed as illustrated in FIG. 1 and wherein the shelf 12, per se, may be formed integral with a depending member or shelf skirt 54. By this construction an exceedingly rigid shelf is provided and the danger of warping practically eliminated due to the permanent right angle construction between the shelf 12 and its skirt 54.

While forming the said shelf and its skirt it is exceedingly convenient to form a series of vertical slots 55 in spaced parallel relation in the skirt and whereby convenient means is provided for hanging coat hangers and the like 56.

Obviously, the said shelf skirt with its elongated openings 55 may be formed, preferably, from one of the moldable materials, and secured through nails or the like 57 to a similarly molded and formed shelf 12.

From the foregoing it will now be evident there has been provided a mechanism which will accomplish the objects initially set forth.

What is claimed is:

1. A shelf supporting bracket formed from a rectangular piece of flat material having a body area with substantially parallel obverse and reverse surfaces, said body area having basically parallel edges at the top and bottom thereof, said body area having side edges between the top and bottom edges resulting in corners at the top and bottom edge of the body area where the side edges and top and bottom edges intercept, said bodyarea inwardly of two of said corners at the ends of one of said body area top and bottom edges being bent along angular lines extending between points on said side edges intermediate the top and bottom edges to points on one of said top and bottom edges but with said latter points being spaced from one another and thereby providing body area portions at opposite ends of one of said top and bottom edges bent substantially normal to the obverse and reverse surfaces of said body area and with the portion of the top and bottom edges of the body area now included with the bent corners portions of the body area now extending angularly of the said obverse and reverse surfaces of the said body area, and second portions bent from the body area in the opposite direction from the corners of the blank and including the other of one of the top and bottom edges of the body area and whereby said second bent portions of the body area respectively act as supporting and securing means for the bracket.

2. A shelf supporting bracket formed from a rectangular piece of flat material as set forth in claim 1 characte'rized by, said bent corner portions and said second bent body portions from the body area being substantially triangular in area each including the line of bend as its hypotenuse and with a sharp point outwardly of the hypotenuse.

3. A shelf supporting bracket formed from a rectangular piece of flat material as set forth in claim 1 characterized by, said second bent body portions from the body area being formed on opposite sides of a slit in said body area from the remaining one of said body area top and bottom edges from which said corner body portions were bent, said second bent body portions each including a similar portion of the top and bottom edge on each side of the slit and said body portions on each side of said slit being bent on an angular line from points equally spaced along said top and bottom edge from the slit to the inner end of the slit, and said bent body area portion now including portions of the said top and bottom edge between the slit and the points of the bend line on said top and bottom edges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 892,542 7/1908 McMaster 248248 1,098,227 5/1914 Casper 248--248 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner I. FRANKLIN FOSS, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

